Beauty in the Beast
by KatLeePT
Summary: Belle sees much more than the Beast Rumple portrays. RumBelle!


She did not intend to spy on him. She did not intend to discover his hidden truths. She never thought she could love him when she first came to this foreboding castle in whose giant walls she so often feels alone. She didn't think she could ever find a man within the beast the Dark Ones portrays himself as, nor did she ever suspect to find his heart. But all that has happened and much more in these past few months through which she's stayed with him.

He's snuck into her dreams, and she knows he did not intend to be there. She's seen him reveal his softer sides, seen him smile and felt her breath and heart catch inside. He's old and dark; some people would call him ugly. Yet, when he smiles, he lets up his entire, dreary castle, and she's never seen anything more beautiful than the way he looks at her then.

She's also never seen anything sadder, though, than those rare moments in which she's caught him looking forlorn without being aware she was anywhere near. The first time was in the rose garden. No one would think a dark Imp like he would keep such lovely plants, but Belle loves to walk in his garden. She loves to literally stop and smell the roses, and she'll never forget the day she was there when he was, too.

She stumbled across him quite accidentally. She had no idea he'd even returned from his latest venture of which she had tried hard not to think. She'd heard the rumors all her life, after all, of how Rumplestiltskin skinned children and destroyed anything good, natural, and innocent that fell into his path. She knew he was a being of whom to be afraid, but she couldn't find it in herself to truly fear him, especially not when he looked so lost that fateful day.

He'd been kneeling in the center of the garden, and he'd been holding something in his thin hands. She'd not clearly seen the item (it would take her years before she discovered that it was Bae's scarf), but she had seen his face and stopped in her tracks. There had been nothing to fear in his face that day, nothing to hint of any great and dark power which he wielded, nothing to threaten. There had only been a lost soul, a broken man, a rending heart, and she'd wanted so desperately to go to him and wipe away the tears which he wouldn't let fall even when alone.

She still has no idea how long she stayed there, hidden just behind a hedge, watching him intently, and fighting the urge to run to him and throw her arms around him. The air had been so still, which usually forewarned of danger when around the great Sorcerer, but there had not been a single crackle of magic in the evening air. She doesn't even remember breathing as she watched him, although she knows she must have, and she thinks she might likely would have stayed there all the night or at least he'd discovered her had not a small animal scurried somewhere within the garden.

She had ducked then, back into hiding, and ran all the way back into the castle. He should have heard her. He should have sensed her. But he's never spoke a word of that moment, and neither has she. Still she can not forget the way he looked that day. Every time he tries to threaten her, every time he makes a joke about something horrible he's going to do, Belle remembers that moment in the garden. She remembers seeing him so broken, and she knows the man he pretends to be is not the man he is.

She still wants to ask him if she saw him crying for he had been crying in his heart and soul though he'd not let a single, real teardrop fall. She wants to wrap her arms around him, hold and hug him tightly, and strangely enough, protect him from the world that fears him. She dares do none of this, however, for he is still the Dark One. She knows she should fear him, that he can do anything to her if ever she angers him, but somehow, she can not. She doesn't think of him as the Dark One, unless she forces herself to do so; she thinks of him, instead, as the man she saw so thoroughly broken by some truly dastardly event in the garden that day and still wants to comfort him, still wants to help him, still wants (dare she say it, admit it even to herself?) to love him.

But she can not. She can not make a move on him. She can not tell him that she knows he is not the awful beast into which he tries to make himself. She can not confess her true feelings for him. There is more than just her life at stake here; she must also think of her village, and of her father, though he's clearly not thought of her as he's not sent word to her this entire time she's been here.

She doesn't feel quite so lonely any more, however. She can sense him in this castle. The darkness and the shadows are a part of him, but just as she can dust them away, in her dreams, she kisses away his darkness, his wickedness, his sorrow. In her dreams, she loves him, and their love saves him every time. As she pulls back the curtains to let in the bright sunlight and awaits his return once more, Belle hopes secretly that he won't be long and that maybe this time, during the little time he's here, she'll somehow find a way to tell him how she feels or at least to make him smile again. Those smiles are so wonderful, after all. So wonderful but rare, they warm her more than the sunlight in which she's standing now.

She turns, not hearing a noise but rather sensing that she is no longer alone. The castle almost seems to breathe in his essence as he appears. She smiles, and her heart flutters as his dark, thin lips almost turn up. "Shall I fetch some tea?" she asks.

"Of course, dearie," he says, with a flutter of one hand. "Don't just stand there gawking, girl. It's not becoming." But yet as she hurries away to do his bidding, Rumplestiltskin turns and watches her flee. She doesn't run from him but only walks with a purpose, and he's reminded again of how well her name fits her. Ah yes, she is beautiful, but he can love no one. The darkness is a part of him and will remain until he's fulfilled his purpose, and by that time, the girl will be long gone on to her own future. Little does the Dark One know, however, nor can he suspect that their futures are one and the same and the girl, though she may be taken from him, will never stray from his side for long.

The End


End file.
